A Long Beach, California, man is awaiting word on whether he will be charged with murder after gunning down a pregnant woman he caught burglarizing his home last week.

Tom Greer, 80, says he caught 28-year-old Andrea Miller, along with Gus Adams, 26, robbing his house Tuesday, July 22.

During the robbery, police say Adams and Miller beat Greer, breaking his collarbone. As the suspects attempted to pry open a safe, Greer made his way to another room, retrieved a gun and began firing.

As bullets flew, Miller and Adams ran through the garage and out the door. Greer continued to fire as the couple ran down an alley behind his house.

“She says, ‘Don’t shoot me, I am pregnant! I am going to have a baby!’” Greer said. “But, I shot her anyway.”

Police say Miller did not appear pregnant. An autopsy later revealed she was not carrying a child.

Greer said he it was easier to shoot Miller because she “ran slower.” He said he shot her to send Adams a message.

“I shot her to send a message on his life for the rest of his life,” Greer told KNBC-TV.

Neither Adams or Miller were armed. Greer claims the couple had robbed him three times in the past and he’s seen to it there won’t be a fourth.

“Adams is being held on charges of residential robbery and murder,” Long Beach Police Chief McDonnell said at a press conference.” Both suspects have criminal histories that are consistent with this type of crime.”

Adams is facing murder charges thanks to California’s felony-murder rule. The rule sates that a person can be charged with a murder they don’t physically commit if the victim is killed during the commission of a felony.

Miller is being held on a $1 million bond. Greer could not be reached for comment.